Returning To An Old Life
by And the sentence trails off
Summary: Derek's 15 year old sister has just come to live with them from their Mom's, and she is not going to let anyone run her life for her. Story better than summary.
1. Chapter 1

**A.N. This is my first Life with Derek fic, so if things don't fit, I apologize ahead of time.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Life with Derek.**

Chapter 1: Things Are Going to Change

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Danielle's mom asked as she stopped the car in her ex-husband's driveway,

"I'm sure Mom. Derek said that he could use another Venturi with my new step sisters around. Besides, I think it's time I meet them." Dani said with a sweet smile on her lips. Her mom sighed and nodded. The two went to the door of their old home.

Dani looked around, it didn't look much different, it did look cleaner, but not much. Dani's mom waited in the car as Dani knocked on the door. When Marti answered their mom honked, waved, and pulled out.

"Nani!" Marti jumped at Dani and Dani picked her up,

"Is that you Smarti?" Dani looked her little sister over, she wasn't so little anymore. Marti nodded.

"Am I bigger Nani?" Marti pulled back a little and looked at Dani trying to make herself look older, smiling all the while.

"Yeah, you are Smarti! And I see you're missing a tooth." Marti looked pleased her older sister had noticed. "Where are Edwin and Derek?" Dani looked around the living room, noting the old couch was gone, replaced with something nicer, but out of place in the home she remembered.

"They're in Smerek's room. They're going over some plans." Marti whispered this information into Dani's ear.

"Oh, okay, well, go tell them Nani's here." Dani put Marti down and watched her run up the stairs.

"Okay!" Marti darted up the stairs towards Derek's room at full speed.

"This, is home." Dani put her bags by the stairs and looked around a little. "At least it was. Things are definitely not the same."

"Dani?" A voice from the top of the stairs said; Dani looked up and saw her older brother looking at her curiously.

"Derek!" Dani ran up the stairs and threw her arms around him, Derek hugged her back.

"Honestly Derek, you cou-" came an unfamiliar voice from down the hall. "Who's this?" asked the person. She was pretty, but Dani didn't like her.

"This, is my little sister Danielle, she's staying here now." Derek sounded possessive, and Dani knew she was home.

"You never told me that there was another one of you!" The girl wasn't a happy camper, but she didn't seem like she ever was. She was about Derek's age, but annoying Dani to no end already. She didn't know how she was going to live with this girl.

"You are?" Dani asked pointedly.

"Oh, you are Derek's sister, I can tell by the way you so kindly introduced yourself!" The girl said rather sarcastically.

"Dani, this is Casey, one of our new step sisters, not my favorite person in the world." Derek gave Casey a look of disgust.



"The feeling's mutual." Casey shot a dirty look right back at him. "I didn't mean to be rude before, I was just surprised by a strange person in the house." Her tone was much more polite now.

"I could say the same to you, minus the half apology before." Dani on the other hand, stayed curt.

"Well, it's nice to meet you. My mom married your dad that makes us step sisters." Casey's peppiness was going to get old fast.

"Yeah, I know. Um, Derek, where am I going to sleep?" Dani had done the math in her head. There were only four bedrooms she knew of, and there were seven, now eight, people living in the house. She didn't want to share a room, especially not with this girl.

"I don't know, um, come on, we'll talk to Dad and Nora." Derek headed downstairs and Dani followed.

"Okay..."

"Dani! Nice to see you!" Dani knew that voice, it was deeper than before, but it was him.

"Edwin! Wow, you're almost as tall as me!" Dani hugged her younger brother.

"That's right, and I intend to get taller." Dani ruffled Edwin's hair, he scowled and tried to fix it, making everyone laugh.

"Come on Dani, we have to talk to Dad." Dani followed Derek down the stairs to the kitchen. "Hey Dad, look who's here," Derek stopped in front of their father. He looked up from the files he was looking at and stood up, forgetting the files completely.

"Dani! You weren't supposed to get here till tomorrow." He seemed a little worried, but Dani figured he'd live. She went over and hugged him.

"I know. Mom was going out of town tomorrow so she just brought me over today." George hugged her back.

"Why didn't you call and tell me? We'd have been more prepared."

"Sorry, we lost your number. Mom never put it in her phone." Dani rolled her eyes at her mother's pettiness.

"It's fine. Nora! Can you come up here a sec?" A woman came up from the basement.

"Oh! You must be Danielle! I've heard so much about you!" Dani was assuming this was Nora, her new step-mother. She seemed nice enough.

"Um, why didn't you tell me that George had another daughter Mom?" Casey was obviously irritated, Dani wanted to laugh. It so wasn't a big deal.

"I'm sorry, I forgot! I just kind of forgot to tell you." Nora braced herself.

"Oh! Is this George's other daughter, um, Danielle right?" A girl, a little younger than Edwin, asked. She was obviously Casey's younger sister.

"Yeah, I-" Dani was interrupted by Casey.

"YOU TOLD LIZZY, BUT NOT ME!" Dani was beginning to understand that Casey was pretty easily upset, this would be fun.

"I'm sorry Casey! But outbursts like that don't make the situation any better!" Nora said sternly.

"Um, Dad, Dani needs a place to sleep." Derek said getting back to the reason he was there.

"Oh! Yeah, your room was supposed to be ready by tomorrow, but it'll be another week, or two…" He was the same as before she left, Dani relaxed. "Um, you can have Derek's room, if it's alright with Derek, till we get a better place for you, he can take the couch." Derek quickly looked up in alarm.



"I don't know, I mean, it's Derek's room." Dani knew how Derek felt about his room.

"Alright, um, how about Edwin stays with Derek and you taking Edwin's room till yours is finished?" Derek grimaced.

"Or, she can bunk with Marti, I doubt Marti would mind." Derek slowly inched his way over to Marti.

"I want Nani to sleep in my room! It'll be like a sleep over!" Dani smiled.

"I don't mind. I'll sleep on the top bunk." Marti jumped on Dani and she nearly toppled over.

"Then it's settled." Nora said. "Danielle will stay in Marti's room until her room is finished." She said happily.

"Alright everyone, let's get out of the kitchen and go get some chow." George motioned to the door.

"I could totally eat a veggie burger." Dani was now 100 sure she'd have trouble getting along with her new step sister.

"A veggie burger?" Dani didn't mask the disgust she felt when she heard that. "Ewe, can we just grab a pizza or something?" Dani really hoped they weren't all vegetarians now.

"If it's alright with Nora," George shot a hopeful look at Nora.

"Of course, we don't just eat veggie burgers, a pizza sounds good." Nora hadn't seemed too thrilled by the thought of a veggie burger at the moment, and had jumped on the chance to have a pizza.

"Oh thank God! No veggie crap!" Derek said unsympathetically.

At dinner that evening Dani sat next to Derek. "What have you been up to since I left with Mom?" She asked him quietly.

"Nothing really, ruling the school, having fun pranking Casey. She really is the most annoying person I think I'll ever meet." He said, Dani laughed.

"Is, Aiden still going to school?" She was hesitant to ask, but she just had to. Derek nearly choked.

"Dani, stay away from him, he's bad news!" He said sternly, Dani looked down.

"Derek! You haven't given him a chance! He's really sweet, and we get each other." Dani was a little angry, she was more determined now to find him. "Now tell me if he's still there, so I at least know he's okay." Derek sighed.

"Yeah, he still goes. Dani, promise me, you won't go looking for him." Dani didn't look at him.

"No, I'm sorry Derek, I won't promise you anything." Dani attempted no further conversation after that.

**A.N. There's the first chapter everyone! I hope you all like it; I worked pretty hard on trying to get everything at least okay. I know I left it as a cliffy, but it's just more fun for me that way ;). Well, I hope you all review, it would make me very happy. I'll try to update ASAP. REVIEW!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

_Dani's POV_

It was my first day back at my old school. Derek was right behind me, high fiving and nodding along the way. "Where is he?" I whispered to myself as I scanned the crowd. Aiden shouldn't have been this hard to spot, he's 6' 2", blonde, and probably high, hung-over, or worse, both.

"Dani, I told you, stay away from him. You won't like what you see." Derek warned for the tenth time that morning, I just rolled my eyes and continues my search.

I finally reached my locker and Derek went into hysterics. "They told me they'd find you a locker close to mine!" I was confused; it wasn't this big of a deal. Then I saw him, and my stomach flipped. He looked like he hadn't eaten in days, his eyes were bloodshot as if he hadn't slept in who knows how long, but his blue eyes lit up when he saw me. Then they saddened, he looked away and went to the locker to the right of mine and ignored me. I now knew why Derek was so worked up. I cleared my throat and Aiden looked at me.

"Hey Aiden," Was all I could coax out of my mouth.

"Hey, um, did you just get back?" He asked, I nodded, and then remembered Derek who was still going on.

"Derek, I'll be fine." I said as comfortingly as I could, he shook his head.

"No Dani, I told you! NO!" He was going to have an aneurism if he didn't calm down soon.

"Derek, I'm a big girl now, it's time for me to find things out for myself." He sighed in defeat, realizing he couldn't follow me around forever, and that he can't always save me. Especially when I don't want to be saved.

"Fine, but I'm watching him, and if you want me, I'm here." He gave Aiden a warning look and began walking away.

"He's right you know." I wanted to hit him.

"About?" I said knowing full well what he meant.

"You know what I'm talking about Tini." He said using part of my nickname, he would call me Martini, I never knew why.

"Why?" I asked. He pulled me into a hug. He smelled good, it was some cologne, it was probably Axe.

"I'm not getting any better Danielle, in fact, I'm getting worse." He said using my full first name.

"No." I could feel the tears falling, but I couldn't stop them. He gently pulled away and wiped my cheek with his thumb.

"Yeah." He breathed. "Dani, I have a problem, I don't want to hurt you anymore than this, you deserve better. Listen to Derek, he's watched me get worse since you left, he wants to protect you from me, and I want you to let him." I shook my head.

"Aiden, no, you can get better, there are places you can go-" He interrupted me.

"Then what? Come back to my alcoholic dad and strung out brother? You know just as well as I o it won't do me any good. Promise me something." I looked away.

"Depends."

"Promise that if you do continue to hang around me that if I get any worse you won't be around me anymore." I looked him square in the eye and could see the pleading in his eyes, I nodded. "Swear on my life, as worthless as it is." I nodded again. "Thank you." He gave me a 

hug. I was scared, I knew he was only going to get worse, and I felt helpless to do anything about it.

"Promise _me_ something." I was hoping this worked.

"Depends." He said with a wry smile, I rolled my eyes.

"Promise me you'll try to at least quit the drugs." I gave him my puppy eyes I knew would make him say yes.

"That's not fair." He said sternly.

"It is so! You gave me that pleading look." I reminded.

"Fine, I'll try."

"Swear on _my_ life."

"Dani, I don't know if I can..." he was serious about not knowing if he could quit.

"Fine, but _try_." I pressed.

"I will." He said, and I smiled.

"Oh! I'm going to be late for class!"

"I'll walk you." He said.

"But you'll be late." I said, he smiled.

"I'm always late, but usually for a not so good reason. This'll change that habit." His smile made me blush, and I hated that.

We walked together in a comfortable silence. When we finally got to my first class, my stepsister, Casey, was in the front row. She saw Aiden, he didn't look at her once, but the look in her eyes upset me. "See you later." He gave me a quick peck on the lips. "At lunch you wanna let me buy you something?" The teacher was getting upset. He knew that, he was _trying_ to annoy the teacher,

"Sure. Now go before _I_ get in trouble!" He got a fake hurt look and then smiled and winked at me before going to his class. I laughed and shook my head.

"Ms. Venturi!" I cringed. "Are you quite finished?" I rolled my eyes inwardly, and then nodded and apologized to the teacher.

At lunch Aiden met me and I had been expecting him to buy me something from the cafeteria. "Where do you want to go?" he asked.

"For what?" I asked.

"Lunch, I said I'd buy you lunch."

"Um, you don't have to take me anywhere." I was hoping he'd leave it at that, knowing that if we left Derek would have a tizzy.

"Did you not want to go out? 'Cause we can stay here if you want."

"Actually, I've wanted a chili dog for awhile..." I conceded.

"Okay, I know a good place. See, now that wasn't so hard." He smirked, I smiled, and then I saw her.

"Dani, hi! I was wondering if you wanted to sit with Emily and I, your friend can come too if he wants." She said in that much too preppy way of hers.

"Aiden, this is my Dad's wife's daughter, Casey, Casey, this is Aiden, my boyfriend." Aiden fought laughter at my use of fake enthusiasm in the introduction.

"We were actually going off campus for lunch, thanks for the offer though Casey." Casey nodded.

"Yeah, sorry, maybe tomorrow." I intended to do no such thing.

"Okay, well, I'll see you later Dani." On that note, Aiden and I left for lunch.

**A.N. YAY! Hope you all liked it, I'll try to update soon, reviews are welcome.**


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Life with Derek. Never have, never will.

Chapter 3

Dani's POV:

At lunch, I was pretty nervous. I knew he still had feelings for me, but I also knew that we had not seen each other in two years. "You wanted a chili dog right?"We were in line at a hot dog stand. I nodded.

"A Dr. Pepper would be nice too." He nodded. As we got to the front of the line, he stepped up.

"Two chili dogs and two Dr. Peppers please," The guy wrote it down on a little notepad and nodded.

"That'll be seven-thirty-five." Aiden took out his wallet, paid and led me to a table under a make-shift ramada.

"So, how've you been?" I shrugged.

"Pretty good I guess."

"Why did you come back? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm glad you did, I just want to know why." He was nervously playing with his driver's license.

"My mom remarried, a guy whose job is taking him to Tokyo, I didn't want to go." He nodded; he looked a little disappointed.

"Here's your food." A girl set our stuff down, smiled at him, and left; he didn't notice her.

"So you came back for good?" The hopefulness in his voice was tangible.

"I don't know. If my mom comes back, I may go back with her, but for now I'm here and that's it." He took a sip of his soda and nodded. "What have you been doing since I was gone?" I was hesitant to ask. I didn't know if I wanted to know, or if he even wanted me to know.

"I- I've been getting worse." My stomach dropped.

"Why?" He just shrugged. I knew I wasn't getting more than that.

We ate and talked about unimportant stuff and headed back to school. "I don't want to

go back." I said it almost to myself; he looked at me.

"We don't have to." I was a little surprised he had heard me.

"Yeah, I do. Derek's taking Casey and I home today." He wasn't swayed.

"I could take you home." I shook my head.

"I guess, but I don't think my brother would like that." I didn't want to upset him more than I knew he already was.

"We could just go to the mall to hang out, if it would make him feel better he could come get you after school." I shook my head again.

"Sorry, not today." I knew my dad would be mad if he found out I skipped half a day of school. He nodded, and we went back to school.

After school, I met Derek at his car. "Well, I didn't see you at lunch." I could tell he was not happy, I sighed.

"Derek, I went to lunch with Aiden - Casey knew - and we came right back." He shook his head and laughed humorlessly.

"You just don't get it. Dani! He isn't a good person to hang around! I can't believe that on your first day back you let him take you off campus! Do you know what could've happened?!" Derek never yelled at me, I could feel the tears coming.

"Derek, I'm sorry, I won't go tomorrow okay?" My sorry attempt at remorse didn't work.



"NO! Not 'okay' Dani! Why don't you ever just listen to me? This is to protect you! Why don't you seem to get that? It's to keep you from getting hurt, he isn't getting any better! He _won't _get any better! You know that just as well as I do!" By now the tears were overflowing, I got into the car and sat there. Casey came finally and when she saw me she started yelling at Derek.

"Leave her alone! If she doesn't want to listen to you then you can't make her!" Derek was livid at her interjection.

"She's gonna get hurt Case! I don't want that!" He was making big hand gestures to make a point, it only made him look like he was attempting to shoo away a fly.

"I don't either Derek, but you aren't going to make her listen. She'll just get more rebellious!" I wondered if she was right: if I was just being rebellious. I shook it off and began listening to my MP3 player so I wouldn't hear them anymore.

When they finally got in the car, they were both really quiet. I didn't mind, I was content listening to my favorite bands and knowing I would be in my own room soon.

At home I didn't speak to anyone. I went to my room, turned up my stereo, and did my homework. At dinner, I ate, but silently, and then I went to bed right after. I didn't want to deal with people, I just wanted to sleep. I was tired, and I was sad. Sad because I knew Derek was right; Aiden was only getting worse. I was also sad because Derek and I were fighting.

At school the next day Aiden looked a lot better. He said he hadn't used since the day before I came and that he hadn't had a drink since then too. He walked me to all my classes, and ate with me at lunch. "Can I drive you home today?" I thought about it for a little while and agreed it would be okay today. He looked happier when I agreed to that small thing.

"Aiden, can I ask you something?" I said after a prolonged silence.

"You kind of just did." He was smiling.

"I know, but seriously." I said trying to stay focused.

"Sure." I took a deep breath to gather my courage.

"Why am I the only one that can get you to stop this?" He stiffened and shifted in his seat a little.

"I don't know." He was so quiet I almost didn't catch that.

"Aiden, don't lie to me. I can always tell when you're lying." He let out a frustrated breath and ran his fingers through his hair.

"I really don't know, I asked myself the same question this morning." He was telling the truth, and I could tell he was trying hard to figure out why I had this effect on him.

"Okay." We were quiet for the rest of lunch and only talked a little bit during passing periods.

After school he met me at our lockers. "Ready?" I nodded.

When we got to his car, he opened my door for me and shut it. The ride was quiet at first but we ended up speaking again not long after he pulled out of the parking lot.

"Derek is okay with you driving me home today for some reason. Yesterday he flipped when he found out you took me to lunch." He nodded a little absently.

"Hmmm, I wonder why."

"So do I. Oh well, I'm not going to bug myself with that. So, change of subject, the Sadie Hawkins Dance is coming up pretty soon." He nodded. "Would you go with me?" He looked over at me.

"Sure, when should I pick you up?" I smiled big.

"Seven is good." He nodded, smiling himself.



"Okay. Here you are." He leaned over and opened the door for me. I shut it.

"I don't wanna go in yet. Drive around a little more, I'll tell you when it's okay for me to go in." He chuckled and we drove for another half hour before I was ready to go in.

"Alright, it's getting late and Derek and your dad are probably worried. You're going in." He was firm. I took a deep breath and nodded. "Good, see you tomorrow." He leaned over and kissed me. I smiled, opened the door, and went inside. Once I was inside and Aiden was gone, Derek was on the steps. He had been waiting for me.

"There you are." He was mad again.

"Derek, this time it was my fault. I asked him to drive around a little. I didn't want to go in." He rolled his eyes.

"Figures, whatever, I'm sick of lecturing you. Just, be careful around him okay?" he hugged me and I nodded.

"Okay. He's taking me to the Sadie Hawkins." Derek stiffened.

"I don't have a say in this… Okay, that's fine." I was shocked he hadn't put up more of a fight.

"Really?" Derek nodded. I could see the irritation on his face, but he was trying really hard to be okay with it.

"Really." He was terse, so I decided now was a good time to leave him alone for a bit.

"Thank you." He didn't say anything, he just stood there and so I hugged him.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4:

The next day at school, Aiden wasn't there. My mind was racing. He _couldn't_ be doing it again. I ran my fingers through my thick brown hair and screwed up whatever styling I had done, but I didn't care. I just wanted him to be here, to know where he was, to know he _wasn't_ doing what I knew in my mind he _was_ doing. I walked through the halls depressed, and worried. A girl my age came up to me with a worried look in her green eyes. "Are you okay?" Her unruly brown curls were tied back, and her mocha was skin perfect. I wished I had her perfect blemish free skin.

"I'm okay." I lied completely, but I didn't care if she knew or not. She shook her head.

"Why don't you sit with me at lunch today? You can tell me what's going on then. I'm Ariel by the way." She smiled at me and I couldn't help but smile back just a little.

"I'm Dani, thanks." She nodded.

"I'll see you later then." She then walked away. I wasn't sure what to make of the situation, but I hoped she could help. I mean she seemed nice enough.

I got through the first four classes all right, hoping he'd show up late. Longing for him to walk me to every class. _Wow, I'm selfish!_ I thought to myself. _He's probably doing some harm to his body and all I can think about is him walking me to class._ I walked to lunch with my eyes on the sidewalk. When I got inside the cafeteria, I was waved over to a table with three girls, including Ariel, and two guys. I went and sat with them. "Dani, this is Nicole, Noel, Oliver, just call him Olli, and Kit. Everyone, this is Dani." Noel, the guy I was sitting across from, gave me a brilliant smile. He was hot, and he knew it. His eyes were emerald green, and his hair was dyed jet black with blue frosted tips. However, he looked like he was naturally dirty blonde from his eyebrows. He was tall and muscular. He was obviously an athlete. Nicole looked a lot like Noel. She had the same eyes and facial structure. She was undeniably gorgeous, but her hair was the dirty blonde Noel's eyebrows were. Kit was the shortest of the bunch. She had brown hair that looked like it could be from a magazine ad, and her eyes were brown. Last, but definitely not least, was Oliver. He had gorgeous eyes, they were hazel, and shaped beautifully. His curly hair was either a really light brown or a really dark blonde, but I couldn't tell which. He was a little shorter than Noel, but just as athletic looking,

"You hang around Aiden a lot don't you?" Noel was openly staring at me. I nodded. "Be careful. He isn't in the best state." He seemed sincere enough, but I scowled anyways.

"I know." I said hollowly, they all looked at me as if I really didn't know anything. I was thinking the same of them.

We got to talking about other stuff like family and things of that nature and we all got along really well. Noel was funny, if not a little perverted. However, aren't most guys? Oliver was sweet and funny. Kit was quiet, but when she spoke, you knew it was something worth hearing. Nicole was outgoing and outspoken; if she disagreed with you, you knew it. Ariel was outgoing, but in her own world. We could get to be good friends.

Lunch was over and I had to go to Biology. Noel and Kit both had Biology with me and we decided to go together. "Don't let Aiden make you feel bad." Noel said after seeing the forlorn and longing look I gave out the window.

"I'm not." I said unconvincingly, he just dropped it and we went to class. After Biology, I went to English Composition, as if I needed that class. It was so easy. I should have been put in British, or American Literature.

I sat down in my usual seat and did my Journal, and then the writing assignment on the board. _Noel's right, I shouldn't let anyone have this effect on me._ I thought to myself as I wrote. _I _

_do that too much. I worry _way_ too much._ I thought. Before I knew what was going on the bell rang. _Already?_ I wasn't paying attention to the time. I took my paper to the teacher's desk and made to leave to go to Algebra when he stopped me.

"Danielle, is something bothering you today?" _Yes._ I thought, but I shook my head. "Okay, you just seemed… not here, today." I gave him an empty smile and left to go to my next class.

Algebra was uneventful and boring. I sat there, did my class work, and helped the other people with the stuff they didn't understand for some odd reason. After class, I went to my locker and saw Noel waiting there for me. _Why is he here?_ I asked myself. "Can I walk you wherever you're going?" I inwardly rolled my eyes.

"Um, sure why not? It's just to Derek's car though, so I don't know if it's worth your time." I was avoiding actually looking at him as I spoke, hoping he would get the hint that I wasn't interested.

"It's fine." I got my stuff and we walked towards my brother's car. There was no one there yet. "I'll wait with you if you want." He was too clingy, I had to get rid of him, but I didn't want to wait alone.

"Okay." I stood there with my backpack on the ground by my feet leaning up against the car, waiting for my brother in awkward silence with a person I just met this afternoon.

"You're Derek's sister?" I nodded. "Well he really must hate the fact that you hang around with Aiden." I gave him a warning look. "Sorry, I didn't mean to push any buttons. I'll drop it." I nodded curtly.

"Please do." We stood there in silence until he saw Derek come out of the school.

"See ya 'round." I waved as he left. Derek was still a ways off.

On the way home, Derek commented he noticed that I was hanging out with actual people. I gave him a dirty look and I didn't talk to him for the rest of the day. Nora and my dad noticed. "Why aren't you two talking?" My dad was trying to be tactful, Nora had been on his case lately about him just confronting without regarding how the other person might think of it.

"I said something that made her mad." Derek said. I finished eating and took my plate, then grabbed Derek's and took it to the kitchen and dumped it. "Hey! I wasn't done!" Casey was laughing, Edwin was aghast, and Marti was yelling at me to bring his food back. Nora and my dad were in shock and didn't know what to do. I stomped up to my room and locked myself in.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5:**

I woke up the next morning hoping he would be there. I was anxious and angry, he never told me he wouldn't be there, but he also never said he would. I was confused, should I be happy, or angry if he comes today? I didn't know. I _did_ know, however, that if I didn't get out of bed I was going to be late for school. So, I literally rolled out of bed and threw on a band T-shirt, jeans, and threw my messy brown hair into a sloppy ponytail before slipping on my Etnies. I walked down the stairs, passing Derek on the way, to whom I still wasn't speaking to. "Hey." I ignored him and grabbed a bunch of grapes on my way out. To my surprise when I got out there, Aiden was parked along the curb. He was leaning up against the front of his mustang, arms crossed, looking flawless. My breath caught in my throat.

"Hey!" He called out upon seeing me.

"Hi... Um, why are you here? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm glad to see you." I was getting angry now; he couldn't just come to my house and act like he didn't ditch me yesterday for his drugs and alcohol.

"I came to pick you up for school." He said with a charming smile. He was trying to make me forget my anger towards him. He knew very well that I was angry with him.

"Why weren't you at school yesterday?" I wasn't going to beat around the bush today, not when he was doing exactly what I thought he was doing. His smile completely melted away and he looked away.

"I wasn't... good." I winced; that was what I knew he was going to say, but had been hoping up till then that he wouldn't. "I'm sorry." He added slowly. I didn't know what I was feeling. I knew I was disappointed, but something else was there. Anger? Maybe. Sadness? Definitely. Happiness because he was here in front of me now? Good possibility. I walked to the passenger side and got in, purposely slamming the door harder than necessary. I was definitely angry. He got in and sat there for a couple of minutes in silence. He turned to me, worry and hurt on his face. "Are you mad at me?"

"Am I mad?! Am I mad?! NO! I'm not mad! I'm _furious_! You promised me that you would try to stop!" I was crying, I hated the fact that when I got mad I cried. Stupid anger.

"Don't cry." He wiped my cheek with his thumb.

"Then stop." I said pulling away and looking him in the eye with my watery ones. He looked away.

"I don't think I can Danielle." He said quietly. I looked down, torture and agony flooding me for what I was about to say.

"Then, I'm done." I said, barely audible. He sighed and hung his head.

"Alright, I'm sorry." He said, hurt and understanding in his tone. I opened the door before I started crying again. I got out and walked back into the house where I found Nora in the kitchen.

"Danielle, what's wrong?" She asked, worry in her voice and etched into her face. I went and cried into her shoulder. "Okay, I see." She said understandingly.

"I couldn't do it anymore Nora." I cried. "I just couldn't." She cradled me, cooing, and telling me I made the right decision. I finally calmed down, and Nora and I talked. I don't mean like before, we _really_ talked. We got to know each other and I actually liked her. She was good for my dad, good for Marti, for Edwin, even Derek.

"Thanks for helping me feel better." I said.



"You're welcome. Now, it's quite a bit too late for you to go to school, and it's about lunchtime. How about you and I go grab some lunch and catch a movie?" She suggested. I smiled.

"That sounds nice actually." I said. So we went to Chili's, and caught a sappy chick-flick. On the way home it was time to pick up Lizzie, Edwin, and Marti.

At dinner that night Derek spoke, nothing new there, but it was still so fresh and I couldn't take what he said. "Aiden was all dead today. What happened?" He asked, I didn't look up from my food as I answered.

"It's over."

"What? Why?" He asked, more confused than concerned.

"Because it is," I said choking out the last word.

"_Derek!_" Nora warned. He didn't listen, he never does.

"Did he do something to you?" He asked, anger seeping into his tone.

"No! Now can you just drop it?" I said trying to hold back the tears that threatened to spill out. I got up without saying anything and went to my room.

"What was that all about? And who is Aiden?" My dad asked, oblivious.

"Dani broke up with this boy, Aiden, today. Because he wasn't good for her, but she really liked him, and is crushed over it." Nora explained. Everyone was quiet.

"Why didn't she tell me she had a boyfriend? I'm her father. Shouldn't I be informed of these things?" My dad was still getting used to the fact that I don't tell him things like I used to.

"She was going to tell you because she asked him to the Sadie Hawkins, but she doesn't need to explain this right now. It's not good for her right now; she is still really upset about it." Nora explained.

"I could invite her to come to the mall with Emily and me this weekend if it'll help her?" said Casey, Derek laughed. "What?" Casey asked, offense clearly taken at this gesture.

"Nothing, just, she already has someone there waiting for the rebound if you know what I mean. I don't like him either, and I think the mall would be a bad thing for her right now." Derek said.

"Who?" Casey asked, interest clearly taken at my relationship problems and perks now.

"Noel Davis." Derek said before shoving more food into his mouth.

"Well, what's wrong with him? I worked with his father for a time, and he and his sister seemed like nice enough kids." Derek acted like he almost choked.

"Noel? A nice enough kid? HA! The guy can have any girl in the school, he knows it, and he _enjoys_ making them act like fools." Now it was Dad's turn to choke.

"He's one of those?" He asked in a 'that's too bad' tone.

"Mmhmm. His sister is the same way, you ask her out, she tells you that if you do this one thing for her she'll go out with you, and when you make a total idiot of yourself she says no. It's simple as that." Derek said in a tone to finish the conversation. Now everyone was really quiet. Casey slowly got up and started clearing things from the table as they left, and I was already on my tenth dream, or nightmare is more like it.

The next morning I walked to school. It wasn't that far, when I got there Ariel, Noel, Nicole, Oliver, and Kit were waiting for me. "I'm so sorry Dani." Ariel said.

"It's not your fault, it was his." Noel was confused.

"What's going on?" Ariel gave me a look asking permission, I nodded and she told him I had broken up with Aiden, and I must admit, he hid his happiness pretty darn well. "I'm sorry." He said, he sounded sincere at least.



"It's not your fault." I said with a shrug, and then he shocked me by pulling me close comfortingly. It was then I realized that I was crying. I felt a pang of guilt as I realized that Aiden was walking by. I think that was Noel's point, not for me to be guilty, but for Aiden to see him and me.

Noel walked me to my classes, standing between my locker and Aiden's locker, and not leaving my side whenever possible. It was weird and kind of nice at the same time.

After school, I was getting ready to walk home when Noel pulled up in front of the school in his Dodge Ram. It was older, but it was very nice. "Need a ride?" He called, hopeful.

"Thanks." I said and got in. We sat in silence as he drove, it wasn't awkward though. It was, however, guilt inducing. He purposely drove by where Aiden parks with the passenger window rolled down. "Can you stop doing that?" He looked confused.

"What?"

"Going around Aiden with me showing off like I'm your girlfriend." I said, irritation closing in on me.

"You mean you're not?" He asked sarcastically. I hit him in the arm, and he laughed as he massaged the place I punched him.

"No, I'm not!" I said not being able to hold back a smile of my own.

"Alright, I'll stop." He said, still smiling hugely. I shook my head and we started off down the road to my house.

After we got my house he cut the engine, we sat there in silence for a couple of moments. I was waiting for something, but I wasn't sure what it was. He was waiting for the same thing I was sure of it. When he leaned over, my heart about jumped out of my chest. He gently pressed his lips to mine, and I, to my surprise, kissed him back. He deepened the kiss and I didn't resist. Instead I wrapped my arms around his neck, when I came back to myself I pulled away. I put my hand to my mouth in shock at what I had just done. What _had_ I just done? I hadn't done anything wrong. I wasn't in a relationship now. I wasn't doing anything wrong. So why did I feel like I was betraying Aiden? I wasn't sure, but Noel was here, and he had kissed me, and I had kissed him, and I had liked it. He definitely wasn't an eyesore, but I was confused. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that yet." He said leaning back in his seat, and running a hand through his already disheveled hair,

"No, it's- it's fine, I just, wasn't expecting it." He looked at me, smiled sheepishly.

"Are you my girlfriend now?" He asked half sarcastic and half serious, I rolled my eyes and punched him again. "Ow! Hey! Does that mean no?" He asked laughing and rubbing his arm again.

"Yes, it's a no. I'll see you tomorrow Noel." I got out of the truck and was about to shut the door when he said.

"I'll walk you to your door." He got out and walked next to me. No one was home, but I wasn't going to let him know that. I took out my key and unlocked the door. "No one's here?" He asked in confusion.

"No, they're here. It's a rule to lock the doors even when we're home." I lied. He nodded his head without arguing. "Bye, see you tomorrow. Don't tell anyone about the kiss please." I said.

"Alright, I won't if you won't." He said.

"Deal." I walked in, the house was too quiet for it to be occupied. I was hoping he didn't notice.



"You sure there's someone here? I can stay with you until someone comes if you want?" he said.

"No, it's okay, I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself." I answered too quickly. He nodded and turned to leave. I stopped him. "Call me so we can talk about the whole kiss thing okay?" I asked. He nodded; I took his hand and wrote my number on his palm. I smiled a smile that I knew didn't reach my eyes. He turned and walked back to his truck, waved, got in and drove off. I sighed and shut the door. What had I just gotten myself into?


	6. Chapter 6

A.N. Alright, a new chapter. I apologize to my readers, this story was on hiatus for a bit, and I just got motivated to start it again. Again, I'm sorry. And thanks to those who review. –IP

**Chapter 6**

**Dani's POV**

Then next few weeks at school were hard; I'd pass Aiden in the halls, or see him at my locker. I decided that Noel and I would stay friends, and only friends. He said it was fine, but I knew he wanted more. Derek was trying to get me out of my little hole, and so was Casey. I went to the mall with Ariel and hung out with her a lot, we became quick best friends; we were inseparable. She listened when I had really rough days and I listened to her problems and even helped out with some. She thought I should give Aiden another chance, but I told her I wouldn't.

In English we were reading and then Aiden came in. "I'm looking for Danielle Venturi." He told the teacher. The teacher motioned for me and I went up.

"What about?" asked the teacher.

"Family emergency." Said Aiden.

"Alright, Danielle, get your stuff. You're free to go." Said the teacher. I got my stuff and met Aiden out of class.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Your step mom got into a minor car accident, she's fine, but your dad wants all of you guys home." Said Aiden.

"What are you doing carrying messages like that?" I asked.

"I have a free period, I help the front desk. Come on, we have to get your brother and step sister still." He said. We walked and stopped at Derek and Casey's class. "You wanna get 'em?" he asked. I nodded and went in.

"Is my mom okay?" asked Casey. She was tearing up, and I nodded.

"Dad wants us home though." I said.

"Alright." Said Derek. Then he caught sight of Aiden. "What're you doing here?" he asked harshly.

"I told Dani about your step mom." Said Aiden.

"Where did you hear it?" asked Derek.

"I help the front. It was my job." Said Aiden. "Alright. I'm going back. See you Dani. Hope your mom's okay Casey." And with that he turned to leave.

"Derek, that was rude." Said Casey. He rolled his eyes and took us both by the arms, practically dragging us to the front. "Derek! Derek, let go!" whined Casey.

"Shut up! We're going faster than if I let you two walk." Said Derek. That silenced Casey until we got the car. I got in and so did Casey. Derek started the car and backed out too fast, nearly hitting another car. A parked car.

"DEREK!" I cried! He hit the brakes and we lurched to a stop. "Slow down." I said heatedly. He took a deep breath and more calmly pulled out and drove home. When we got there Nora was on the couch, a scratch on her arm and a bump on her forehead.

"Mom!" cried Casey. She ran to where her mom was laying.

"I'm fine, just a few cuts and bruises." Said Nora. Casey wasn't satisfied.

"Can I get you something? Anything?" she asked.

"No, I'm fine Case, thanks." Said Nora. I went to tell Nora I hoped she felt better and went to my room. Derek came a few minutes later and knocked on my door.

"I come with sugar." He said. I got up and let him in; he came in and sat on my bed. Handing me a chocolate bar on the way in.

"So, why has Derek, ruler of the house under Dad come to see me?" I asked mockingly.

"To tell you that you should go out with whoever you want." He said. I was shocked, if not a little confused.

"What're you talking about?" I asked. He rolled his eyes.

"You can date Aiden. You should, I think you were good for him, he seemed to be getting better." He said.

"Derek, I can't. I can't deal with that anymore. I can't deal with the worry and stress that comes when he's not at school." I said.

"You worry anyways. I've seen you scan the crowds to make sure he's still there, and when he's not you have crappy days." Said Derek. I looked away embarrassedly, if he saw that, so did everyone else.

"Derek, I just. I should've listened to you before." I said. He shook his head.

"No, for once I think I was wrong Dani." He said. He got up and started to leave. "Oh, and he's been trying to quit on his own from what I hear, so his moods have been all over. He's trying Dani, he wants to be good enough for you." He said and with that he left.

The next day I came to school tired, I hadn't slept at all thanks to my brother and his stupid stupidness. I know, not a word, but I'm tired. I walked to my locker and found a note taped to it, it was addressed "MARTINI" and I knew it was from Aiden. I took it and read it slowly.

"Dear Tini,

I wanted to tell you I've been trying, extremely hard to quit. I don't drink and I only use once every other week or so. I know, doesn't help a lot, but it's something. I wanted you to know that. I want to be good enough.

- Toast"

I laughed; he hadn't called himself toast since he was twelve. I sniffed and wiped my eyes hoping no one saw me, and that he did. He came right on cue. "Hey." He said as he wiped a stray tear.

"Hey." I said back looking up at him. We both started talking at the same time and then stopped and laughed a little.

"Go ahead." He said.

"You've really quit?" I asked.

"Not completely, but close." He said. I smiled and he smiled back.

"How about your grades and stuff?" I asked.

"Still crap." He said.

"My dad won't let me go out with you if your grades stay 'crap'." I said. His face lit up and he kissed me.

"Alright, I'll bring 'em up." He said. I smiled.

"Good. Now walk me to class." I said. He offered his arm and I took it. We passed Noel on the way and I could see the anger and hurt in his eyes. I felt bad, but he never had any of my affections other than a friend.

"Hey, after you called it off did you and Noel have a thing?" asked Aiden.

"No, he kissed me once, but it never happened again because I didn't feel the same about him." I said. Aiden looked pleased with that fact. "Be nice, he is still a friend of mine." I said. He huffed and said he try, I knew he was insincere. He kissed me good-bye before letting me go into my class, I knew he did it there because Noel could see and hugged me.

"See you soon." He said. I nodded and went into class. Noel was in this class with me and sat on the other side of the room instead of the usual one behind me. I knew he was pissed.

At lunch Aiden and Noel got to me at the same time. _"Uh-oh."_ I thought. I didn't let it show, instead I smiled obliviously. "Hey." I said.

"Hey." They both said in unison, staring each other down afterwards.

"Um, so did you want something Noel?" I asked moving to Aiden who promptly pecked my cheek. Noel's jaw clenched then relaxed and he nodded.

"Yeah, I was wondering if you were eating lunch with us today?" he asked. I knew he meant him.

"I was going to take her off campus. To the place of her choice." He said looking down at me as he wrapped a possessive arm around my shoulders. That was an extremely tempting offer, but I had told Ariel I'd sit with them today.

"Can we stay? I told Ariel I'd sit with her today." I said. Aiden nodded. Noel's face sort of fell, but he hid it quickly, I saw Aiden's mouth twitch up slightly.

"It's fine, we can go tomorrow." Said Aiden. "I'll sit with you." He added and I nodded. I didn't expect any less. The three of us walked silently to the refectory, Aiden with his arm around me and Noel with his hands in his pockets. I felt a stab of guilt because he was my friend and I knew this was killing him. We got to the table and sat, Noel across from us, and Ariel with a huge smile.

"Hi Aiden." She said. He nodded.

"'Sup." He said. The others were fairly quiet because of the tension.

"So, you two are going out again?" asked Oliver. Always asking about the obvious.

"Mhm." I said with a nod. I was eating and so was everyone else, except for Noel. He'd bought himself food, but it was just sitting there, he was glaring challengingly at Aiden. Everyone noticed. Aiden was trying to ignore it, but it was getting to him. He started to slow down uncomfortably in his eating and I touched his arm, he gave me an: "I'm trying." Look and went back to eating, but five minutes later he stopped eating and looked up at Noel wrathfully.

"There a problem?" he asked in a tone that said: "Say no or die."

"Aiden." I whispered through gritted teeth.

"What? He's staring at me, I wanna know why?" he said.

"Because you have a girlfriend you don't deserve." Snapped Noel. Shocking everyone except Aiden. He just chuckled humorlessly.

"Yeah, what of it?" he asked.

"She's too good for you that's what. A druggy like you shouldn't be with a smart girl like her. She shouldn't even want you." Spat Noel.

"Noel, stop." Said Nicole.

"No! I thought she liked me back weeks ago, but guess what? I was _wrong_! It's irritating! Liking someone and them liking some person that is less than worthy of their affection." He was yelling and standing. Making a scene. Derek was ready, I could see him already standing and getting ready to come break up a fight. I got up and started to leave, Aiden shook his head and started following me when I heard something hit something else.

"NOEL! NO!" I heard Nicole scream. I turned and saw Noel on top of Aiden, hitting him over and over. Derek was running, jumping over tables to get to it. To pull him off.

"Noel! STOP!" I cried. Aiden wasn't going to take it; he rolled himself on top of Noel and hit him back. "AIDEN! PLEASE!" I screamed. Aiden stopped and looked up at me with a black eye, and his lip busted and bleeding. Noel took this opportunity to kick him and attack him some more. By then Derek had gotten there and pulled Noel off of Aiden who wiped his lip with the back of his hand. I handed him a napkin.

"Alright, you are going to apologize to my sister and her boyfriend." Said Derek in a pleasant tone that still threatened.

"Yeah right, I only apologize when I'm sorry." Said Noel. _"So this is the real him,"_ I thought. I shook my head and took Aiden to the nurse's office. I knew the principal would hear about it so I didn't bother to do anything, or threaten Noel with anything. I didn't look back as I walked with Aiden to the nurse's, I had done what I could for the bleeding and had given him an ice cube for the swelling.

"I'm sorry Dani." Said Aiden.

"Don't be, it wasn't _you_ who initiated the fight." I said. We got to the nurse and explained what happened.

"So odd. Noel isn't usually one for fighting." She said as she handed Aiden an ice pack.

"Yeah well, took him four tries to get my lip to bleed." Said Aiden. He had a piece of the napkin stuck to his lip, I wiped it off and handed him another. "Thanks." He said as he dabbed at his lip.

"No problem." I said. I sat in the chair by the wall and waited. The principal walked in a few minutes later.

"Mrs. Wallis, I'll take Mr. Matthews and Ms. Venturi now thank you." He said. Aiden and I stood and followed him to his office. After we got there we saw all my friends and Derek and Casey.

"Why is Casey here?" I asked.

"She saw the whole thing and is a very reliable witness." Replied the principal. He called everyone in one by one and questioned us individually. Aiden, Noel, Derek, Nicole, Casey, and I were in there the longest. "Okay, Mr. Matthews, Mr. Davis come into my office please. The rest of you may go back to class." Said the principal after coming back out. I had a class with Casey next so I walked with her.

"If you need to talk Dani, you can talk to me. If not, I go to a really good counselor every week, you can probably get George to sign you up." She said. I shook my head.

"It's fine, I have a best friend who lives for this kind of stuff." I said.

**A.N. Alright, I hope you all liked that chapter; it was about a page longer than I usually do so I hope it was good enough. Noel and Aiden fighting! Over Dani:Gasp: Things are starting to get dramatic. The next chapter should come in a week or so, if more, I apologize ahead of time. - IP**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

**Danielle's POV**

The day of the fight was a Friday so I had Ariel over to spend the night. Both Aiden and Noel were suspended. They were only suspended, and not expelled, because they both also agreed to do community service for sixty hours. "At least they weren't expelled." Ariel said trying to make me feel better. I nodded.

"Yes, there's that. I can't believe this happened." I said. "Well, I can, but you know what I mean."

"Yeah, I know." She said. We talked for hours until Derek came and told us to shut up because we were keeping him awake. I threw a pillow and he caught it and said he was tired of hearing the same thing repeated in different ways. I told him to go back to bed and he said he would if we did. So, we did.

The next morning Ariel had to leave early so after she left I was alone. "Dani, phone!" called Derek. I hadn't even heard the thing ring. I went over to his room and was surprised to see Aiden there.

"What's going on?" I asked. I was glad to see him, but shocked.

"I had him come over, since he's suspended for the next week and has community service to do; I figured you'd want to see him. Well, Casey thought you'd want to see him, and forced me to call." Derek said. I hugged him and muttered a "thanks" before kissing Aiden. "Hey! Not in my room!" Derek yelped. I pulled away, Aiden was grinning. We left and went downstairs.

"Well, since you know he's here now you can tell us who "he" is." My dad said from the dining room table. I turned and smiled.

"Dad, this is Aiden." I said.

"Really? Wow you've grown. A lot." My dad said getting up and shaking Aiden's hand.

"Well, the last time I saw you was before Dani went to live with her mom, a few years back." Aiden said. My dad had always liked Aiden, he would always say: "He's a good boy." Or "Nice kid." And Derek would scoff and continue on his merry little way.

"Yeah, that's right. I knew you hung around only for her." My dad said giving Aiden a look that said, _"Yes, I knew."_ Aiden blushed and nodded.

"Yeah, kind of the reason I'm here today. I wanted your permission to date her." Aiden said. My dad went into Defensive Dad Mode.

"Will you be respectful to her?" He asked. Aiden answered by nodding his head and Dad continued. "How are your grades?" he asked.

"Not very good at the moment, I admit. I'm bringing them up right now." Aiden answered.

"Okay, have you been in any kind of trouble?" Dad asked.

"Um, yeah. I just got suspended for fighting." Aiden said. My dad didn't like that.

"Fighting? For what?"

"Actually, for Dani. A guy that likes her didn't like the fact that I was going to ask her out and hit me. It got annoying, getting hit without fighting back, so I hit him back. I stopped the second Dani told me to and got hit again before Derek pulled the guy off of me." Aiden said. My dad seemed pleased and nodded.

"Wow." He said. "I guess it's alright, but your curfew for dates is eleven. And you have to keep your grades up Dani." He said. That was easy, and he knew it. Aiden smiled and shook my dad's 

hand again, thanking him. He then asked if I wanted to go anywhere, and I told him a movie sounded good to me. So we went to the movies and then to a little fair that was in town.

We were just about to leave when I saw Noel and Nicole. She was holding on to his sleeve and he was glaring in our direction. I knew we had to leave, fast.

"Aiden let's go." I said taking his hand and trying to drag him to his car.

"Why? I thought you were having a good time." He said.

"I was, but now I'm not, let's _go_." I urged. He followed bewilderment on his face. Noel had escaped the grasp of his sister and was headed our way, when I saw that, I started to run.

"Dani, what's going on?" asked Aiden worriedly. He was easily keeping pace; little did he know that Noel was extremely close. I looked back and saw Noel almost right at our heels. _Please don't call out. Please don't call out._ I thought to myself as I dragged Aiden, as much as he could be dragged by me, towards his car.

"Hey!" my stomach dropped when I heard Noel call out. "Aiden! I wanna talk to you!" Aiden stiffened and stopped walking right there.

"Aiden, come _on_." I hissed. He wasn't listening, he was furious. He pulled away from me and went towards Noel. "Aiden!" I yelled. He barely glanced back.

"Leave her alone Noel." Warned Aiden as he stopped in front of Noel. I came up behind Aiden.

"Aiden, come on, please." I said, putting on my best pouty face.

"Dani, go to the car." ordered Aiden icily. He never talked to me like that; it was like a slap in the face.

"Very nice. You let him talk to you like that Dani?" Noel sneered. I glared at him.

"He's never done it before for your information; he knows I don't take that _crap_." I spat. The last part was said for Aiden. He seemed to calm down at that and got an apologetic look on his face.

"Hmm, always a first for everything. Who knows, maybe he'll hit you next." Noel said. The rest happened so fast, Aiden yelled for Noel to take it back and that he'd never hurt me, Noel scoffed and shot back that he could be wasted one night and just lose it and take out whatever on me. That was the thing that pushed Aiden over the edge. He lunged at Noel and tackled him to the ground and proceeded to hit him over and over again.

"AIDEN! STOP!" I cried. He didn't even look back at me he was so enraged. "Aiden! Aiden please! Stop! Stop!" I was sobbing, so I'm not quite sure how intelligible it was, but Aiden seemed to come back to reality when he realized I was crying.

"Dani? Dani, oh God, Dani. I'm sorry." He said as he pulled me into his arms. Nicole came up behind us and saw Noel, battered and bleeding, also, glaring and unbelieving that I had once again chosen Aiden over him.

"Oh God, Noel!" Nicole said, well, more along the lines of screamed in a panic, upon seeing Noel. I looked over and realized he was pretty badly beaten.

"Crap Aiden! What did you hit him with?" I asked, not quite hiding the horror that I felt.

"My hand, what else was near me?" he answered in a "Duh" tone.

"Aiden, oh my God." I said. I was scared. Noel looked awful, his nose looked broken, and his right eye was already swelling shut, his lip was busted and bleeding, and he looked like he was in a lot of pain. "Aiden, we need to leave." I said. He shook his head.

"I should see if he's okay. I mean, I lost it, I really lost it Danielle." He said. He was starting to panic, I could see it, he was afraid.



"Aiden, calm down." I said taking his face in my hands so he had to look at me. "I'll go talk to Nicole, and tell you what you need to expect from them." I said. He nodded, the fear and panic all over his face. "Stay here." I said firmly. He nodded again, and I went to talk to Nicole. "Hey, um, how is he?" I asked. She turned to me with a fiercely dirty look.

"This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't led him on Dani." She spat.

"I didn't lead him on!" I said. "It was _right_ after I had split with Aiden and Noel _knew _I was vulnerable! He took advantage of the moment and I let him, it was a mistake." I said angrily. How dare she even think that I could have purposely led Noel on?!

"Whatever, just stay away from us, both you and Aiden. I'll keep Noel away if you stay away." She said. I nodded.

"Fine, make sure he doesn't chase us again like he did tonight. He deserved this, he went after us, he called Aiden out. Remember that." I said evenly. She nodded and I went back to Aiden. "Let's go. I'll explain in the car." I said. I was pissed. I was beyond pissed, she didn't know me at all after all that time of talking to her, and she still blamed all of this on me.

When we got to the car I explained it all to Aiden who nodded and didn't look away from the road. He was also accelerating too much, I reprimanded him, and he slowed, apologizing and then doing it again. This happened three times before I yelled at him and he finally slowed to the speed limit. "Aiden, please don't do anything stupid okay?" I asked. He nodded. His jaw was set, and his knuckles were white on the steering wheel. "Calm down. It's over." I said.

"I'm calm." He said. His voice was strained, and I shook my head.

"Please." I said putting my hand on his shoulder. He seemed to relax a little more. "Thank you." He nodded.

When he drove to my house I told him I loved him and kissed him chastely on the lips before going inside. Blissfully unaware of what was to come later that night.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

**Omniscient**

Dani woke with a start to a loud banging on her door. She groaned and checked her alarm clock, the red numbers read 2:34 a.m. _Great_, she thought to herself, _what could anyone possibly want from her at this hour?_ She got up and stumbled to her door, opening it and squinting in the light from the hallway. "What?" she slurred. Derek was at her door, he looked frantic. He was struggling to get his black leather jacket on and was sloppily dressed, as if he'd done it hurriedly, in the dark.

"Dani, get dressed." he said. He sounded pretty freaked.

"Why? What's going on?" she asked. She was beginning to wake up. Being more aware she took in the rest of her surroundings, Casey was up, and so was Lizzy. Her dad and Nora were too, they both looked at her sympathetically. Then something hit her, something was going to change, something very, very big. "Oh God." she breathed.

"It's Aiden, Dani. He was on his way home, he was driving around after he dropped you off, and he lost control-" Derek's explanation was cut short by Dani's sharp cry as if she'd been stabbed, or something similar. Derek caught her as she fell forward and let her cry into his chest.

"Please say he's okay. Please Derek! Don't tell me he's gone! He _can't _be gone!" she cried. Derek felt his heart lurch at the sight of his little sister breaking right in front of him. In front of the whole house. She had been so strong, but the news of this guy's accident had absolutely shattered her. This was how irrevocable it all was. He saw it know, his baby sister, the strong, non-boy crazy Dani, was in love with this guy who was bad for her, but she really couldn't help it. Nothing anyone did would ever be able to change it either.

Derek picked her up and just carried her out. She was in a t-shirt and shorts, good enough. "Let's go. Dad, drive. I'll sit in the back with her." he said. Their father nodded and grabbed the keys.

"Alright everyone, back to bed. We'll find out more in the morning." said Nora. Dani heard Marti complain, but tuned it all out. He couldn't be gone. It wasn't possible. He was there just hours ago. She had talked to him hours ago, told him to be safe, and he wasn't! It was killing her. She remembered him being there, being able to feel his presence. Did she feel it now? Yes, he was still alive. She could feel it. This calmed her a bit. Knowing that he was still there, that he would still be there.

When they arrived at the hospital, it took Dani all of two seconds to find Aiden's dad and brother in the waiting room. She immediately went to them. "How is he?" she asked. She hoped they could recognize her, it had been awhile.

"Not good. The doctors aren't sure when, or if, he'll wake up." said Aiden's dad. Dani nodded and swallowed the lump in her throat. She looked at Aiden's family. It was funny how similar Aiden looked to his father and older brother, it was so obvious they were related.

"Can I see him?" she asked. Zane, Aiden's older brother nodded.

"I'll take you to him." he said. Dani nodded and followed. She let out a shuddering breath and wiped the tears that were falling. Zane looked back at her.

"You really like my brother don't you?" he asked. Dani looked up at him and nodded.

"He's lucky. He knows it too. He never shuts up about you ya know." he said. Dani chuckled.

"I figured." she said.



"Yeah, when you left it crushed his lil' heart. He was thrilled when you came back and actually still liked him." he said with a shake of his head. Dani felt more tears slip down her cheeks. "My dad doesn't want to be in the room. Hospitals freak us out. If Aiden were awake-"

"He'd be having a cow. They freak him out." finished Dani. Zane smiled a little and nodded.

"Yeah."

They walked in silence for a little while. They came to the hall that Aiden's room was in and they heard a lot of commotion. "No! Get this crap out of my arm!" and then a string of colorful profanities drifted through the hall. Dani would know that voice anywhere. "Aiden." she ran ahead just as he chucked a bed pan in the general direction of a nurse.

"Aiden!" cried Dani. Upon her entrance Aiden mellowed.

"Dani? What are you doing here? It's like 3 am. You can barely function at 8 on the weekends." he said, staring at her like she just came from his imagination.

"Oh God, Aiden, I was so worried." she cried going over and grabbing his bruised face and kissing him.

"Ow, ow, ow!" he said, pulling back.

"Sorry." she said. Then she smacked an un-bandaged part of his arm. "I told you to be safe!" she said, glaring. He grinned, rubbing the area she hit him.

"I know. I just got carried away." he said. Zane stood at the doorway, shocked by the exchange. Man he has it so bad, he thought with a shake of his head.

"Aiden, you have to pay more attention to things around you." said Dani. Aiden was putty in her hands and she obviously knew it. The nurses looked on in amazement that one girl had waltzed in there and subdued the huge teen boy in the hospital bed with just his name.

"I was paying attention. I think. I don't remember much." he said. Dani rolled her eyes. She was crying still, but was smiling.

"Never mind. Maybe we just won't go out at night anymore. Or, maybe, no going out with you driving." she said. Aiden gave her a look.

"That's not funny." he said. She giggled.

"Yes it was." she said. He couldn't help it, he smiled.

"No, it wasn't."

"Then why are you smiling?" he let out a low swear and composed himself.

"I'm not anymore. Now stop." he said softly, but firmly. She nodded and hugged him.

"I was so scared." she whispered. He held her and kissed the top of her head.

"I'm sorry." he said.

"That's better." she said, a small smile tugging at her lips. He scooted over on the bed and pulled her up next to him, earning a small yelp from her.

"Sorry." He said, pulling her close. She gave him a pointed look, but snuggled into his side. "She's staying here." he said in a tone that said it wouldn't be wise to question him. Dani looked up at him.

"Aiden." she said in a warning tone. "If I have to leave, I have to leave. Don't make a big deal out of it." she added. He looked down at her with a cocky grin.

"But you won't have to leave, because you don't want to leave, and I don't want you to leave. Besides, you're all tangled in the wires." he said. Dani glared at him.

"You did that on purpose." she accused. He smirked, pecked her lips twice and shook his head innocently.

"I would never." Dani laughed.



"Of course not." she said. "You're so selfish."

"Yes, yes I am." he said as she began to doze.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9:**

Aiden was released from the hospital a week later, his leg in a cast and eighty stitches richer. Dani had gone to see him every day and the doctors were convinced that was part of the reason he had recovered so nicely.

Aiden's dad was still pretty freaked out, and was drinking, a lot. Zane had come to pick up Aiden from the hospital because their father couldn't. Dani had made sure Derek was there to pick her up because Aiden didn't want her coming with him to his house while his dad was drinking. "What about you? You can't keep yourself from getting hurt by him now." Aiden chuckled.

"He's learned not to mess with me while I have a fresh cast, long story short, I gave him quite a bump when I was fifteen after I broke my arm. Had to get a new cast, but it was worth the chronic headaches I gave him." Dani shook her head, worry etched into her face.

"I still would rather go with you." Aiden took her face in his hands.

"Not this time. I'll call you when I get home, yeah?" She caved and nodded. "Good." Aiden grinned and kissed her forehead. "Now, take me away brother!" He waved his hand forward dramatically and Dani laughed as Zane rolled his eyes but complied.

"Don't worry too much Dani, this idiot is always okay." Dani laughed harder and nodded.

"Thanks Zane. You'd better keep him that way too, or I'll hurt you." Zane let go of the wheelchair and held his hands up in surrender while the wheelchair kept rolling. "Zane, the wheelchair is rolling away!" Aiden stopped it himself.

"Settle, settle. I'm fine, I could drive this thing if I wanted, but they told me that Zane had to wheel me out." Aiden rolled his eyes and Dani glared.

"Shut up, you are fraying my nerves. I'll go prematurely gray, and I'm not even married!" Aiden laughed.

"That's why you need to settle. You've always been the worrier. Stop worrying, I'm fine. I'm alive, and breathing. What more could you ask for?" Dani could think of a few things. "Don't answer that." Zane laughed.

"You two sure _act_ married." Both Aiden and Dani glared.

"Shut up." They said in unison. Zane shuddered.

"Ugh, you two even say things at the same time. Creepy." Aiden punched his brother in the kidney.

"Shut up and take me to the car." Dani chuckled; Aiden's sunny mood had been dampened a shade.

"I'll talk to you later." Dani kissed Aiden and then went out to where Derek was waiting.

"Finally, only took you a few hours." Dani rolled her eyes.

"I was saying good-bye." Derek's eyebrows shot up.

"Heh?" Dani laughed.

"Not _that_ kind of good-bye, nasty." Derek visibly relaxed, but was still a little stiff.

"Yeah, yeah, let's just go. Hospitals freak me out." Dani laughed, but followed him out to the car.

The drive home was pretty quiet for Dani. Derek figured she would talk if she wanted to, so he didn't say anything.

Dani was thinking about how Zane had said that his and Aiden's dad was drinking a lot more than usual. It worried her to no end. She didn't know if he was the kind of drunk who was calm, or if he got mean. From the way Aiden and Zane had refused to let her come with them she figured he was the type to get mean. Taking a deep breath she tried to calm her split nerves.

After getting home, Dani went straight to her room. Casey had asked questions, most of which she'd already asked and gotten answers to.



The phone was sitting in its cradle and Dani snatched it up quickly. She dialed Aiden's number without even thinking and pressed the receiver to her ear. She tapped her foot impatiently as she listened to the ringing in her ear, after the fourth ring she sat on the bed. "Hello?" A man's voice sounded on the other end of the receiver and Dani jumped a little.

"Uh, yeah, hi, can I speak with Aiden please? This is Danielle." She heard shuffling and muffled shouting on the other end and her heart picked up its already quickened pace.

"Dani? Is everything okay?" Aiden's voice made her relax and she finally let out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding.

"Yes, everything's fine, I just wanted to make sure you got home all right and yeah…" Dani trailed off. She felt clingy and like a nag for being so anxious and it made her embarrassed. Aiden chuckled.

"Couldn't take your mind off me, could you?" Dani sighed in resignation.

"No, I couldn't keep my mind off of you. I was worried to be totally honest." Aiden full out laughed this time.

"You're such a worry wart! Relax; take a few deep breaths, read a book in the bathtub or something." Dani rolled her eyes at the amusement in his tone.

"I feed your ego too much." He made a mock hurt tone.

"You feed it just the right amount, thank you very much." Dani snorted.

"Yeah, for you maybe, but for the rest of the world it's too much." She could practically hear the smile in his voice.

"The fact that I have you to look forward to every day is what makes me the way I am, so really it's just that I have you that is too much for the world." Dani smiled.

"Well that's too bad for the world, I'm not going anywhere." Aiden let out a little disbelieving chuckle.

"That's what I find so hard to grasp sometimes." He was so quiet Dani wasn't sure she was meant to hear it. "I love you Dani, you know that. I don't know how I'd go on without you, as cliché and cheesy as that sounds. I was crushed when you left with your mom." Dani's smile softened a little, and her eyes became a little sad.

"I know, I love you too, and I'm not going anywhere unless it's with you. Got that?" Her voice was tight with emotion and Aiden wished he could be there to hold her and stroke her hair.

"I got it, and the same goes for me. I'm not going to leave you, ever. I'll hunt you down if you ever leave." Dani knew he was only half joking and she chuckled.

"I know you will, and that's why I'll never leave you." Aiden grinned.

"Say it again for me."

"I'll never leave you."

"_I'll_ never leave _you_. I swear on my life." The seriousness in his tone made Dani a little scared, but it also overjoyed her. The joy overshadowed the fright, and she began to tear up.

"God, I feel like so much is changing so fast." Aiden immediately thought he'd done something wrong.

"Crap, did I freak you out? I'm sorry." Dani sniffed and laughed a little.

"No, well, yes, but that's not relevant. I just feel like it was just yesterday that we were meeting each other for the first time and now I realize how far we've really come." Aiden didn't respond, he simply let her words sink in and realized how true they were.

"Wow, we've been through so much." The wonder in his voice made Dani close her eyes, remembering all of the best and worst times with him. There had been countless good times with him, and recently there had been a few bumps in the road, but for the most part, they had stayed strong.

"What doesn't kill us makes us stronger. I never thought that would ever be so true." Aiden took a deep breath.



"I guess a lot has changed. For one, you aren't afraid to kiss me anymore." Dani could hear the smile in his voice and she snorted.

"I was never afraid to kiss you." Aiden laughed.

"Not true, you used to dodge my attempts to kiss you like I had the Plague." Dani scowled.

"I was not that bad."

"You were so, and you know it, that's why you're being so defensive." Dani rolled her eyes.

"Fine, I was a _little_ scared to let you kiss me, but not because I thought you were gross. I thought you'd find out I had never kissed before and that I'd suck at it." Aiden laughed.

"You sort of did." Before Dani could say anything, he immediately added something else. "It was cute though, and I was determined to teach you to kiss correctly and well, and viola! It worked." Dani laughed.

"You did not think it was cute, I mean, really. It was embarrassing too, but you _did_ teach me. I'm glad you taught me too." Derek stormed into Dani's room and she "Eep"-ed.

"Dad says you need to get off the phone, and I can hear you're disgusting sappy talk. _All_ of it." Dani blushed and nodded.

"Sorry, I'll get off in a moment." Derek nodded and sauntered out of the room. Dani huffed. "I have to get off the phone."

"Alright, I'll talk to you whenever. Love you." Dani grinned.

"I love you too. Bye."

"Bye." She hung up and just sat there for a bit, reflecting on what had been said during the conversation with Aiden. She grinned wider and put the phone back in its cradle before getting up to get herself some food.


	10. Chapter 10

**A.N. This will probably be the end of this story for now. The story has been sitting stagnant for a while, and I apologize to the readers for taking so long to update this story. Thank you all for your feedback, and I hope to get more in the future. There is going to be a time skip in this last chapter of about six months to accomplish a closure of sorts for the story. After nearly three years of writing this story, I am trying to give you as readers a happy place for this story to end. Again, thank you all. – And the Sentence Trails Off…**

Chapter 10: Finale

"Dani! Aiden is here!" Derek called up the stairs to his sister. It was prom night, and Casey had gone all out getting herself and Danielle ready. Danielle was annoyed that Aiden had even asked to take her; he knew she didn't like formal things like prom, and she was stubbornly trying to get out of going still.

"Tell him he can wait!" She called down as she studied herself in the full length mirror in Casey's room.

"You look great Dani, really. Aiden is going to love you in this." Casey reassured her. Dani tilted her head to the side and scrutinized herself. Sure, she looked pretty good. Her hair was done nicely in big waves, and pinned in some places, and the dress she was in looked like it was straight from a magazine, her makeup was nice and played up her best features, and her heels were still small enough that she could walk without tripping and dying. Yet she still had no desire to go to the prom, even with Aiden.

"Oh, I don't doubt that Case, I just… I don't want to go. He knew that, but he bought the tickets anyway." Dani looked at Casey in the mirror. Casey frowned.

"Why don't you want to go? It will be so much fun! It's PROM!" Casey protested indignantly. Dani shrugged.

"I'm not one for dressing up and dancing. Not with all those people. I'm going for Aiden though. He wants to go obviously. Lord knows why." Dani took a deep breath and grabbed the purse Casey had bought to go with her dress and went down with her to greet their dates.

"You look amazing, as usual Dani." Aiden said when he saw her, he stepped forward and took her in his arms and kissed her forehead. "I know you don't want to go, but humor me, okay?" He held her at arm's length, studying her face. She nodded.

"I'm all dressed up aren't I?" She asked in answer to his request. He chuckled and hugged her to him. She was still less than amused.

"Yes you are. Thank you." He said.

"Pictures! Pictures!" Nora sang excitedly. Dani groaned outright and Aiden laced his fingers through hers and gave a gentle squeeze, reminding her to be a good sport. Casey and her date stood next to Derek and his date and Dani and Aiden, and Nora and George took pictures. "Have fun kids!" Nora said.

Derek, Casey, and their dates shared a limo, but Aiden and Dani took his car. "Try to have fun, please?" Aiden said, gently squeezing her hand on the center console.

"I will, because I know you really want this to be fun for both of us, even if I don't like the idea of going at all." Dani said.

"Thank you. I'll try to make this worth the hassle you went through getting ready for it then." Aiden said dryly. Dani rolled her eyes. He was such a baby sometimes.

When they pulled into the parking lot, the dance had already begun, Dani wanted to sneak in low profile so as not to be made a big deal of by her friends, but seeing as how Derek and Casey had already arrived, there was no way to let them take the limelight while she and Aiden slunk discretely into the rented space. "Settle down, things will be great, trust me." Aiden whispered into her ear. Dani took a deep breath and nodded.

She did trust him, with every fiber of her being, and so she knew that things tonight would be amazing if she let him do whatever he was planning. He led her into the room and she was relieved when no one looked their way, everyone was so preoccupied with their own dates and dancing. "Come on, dance with me?" Aiden asked, the look in his eyes was so earnest, Dani nodded.

He took her out to the dance floor and began actually waltzing with her to some mainstream pop song Dani didn't know. She laughed in amazement; she didn't try to hide her pleasant surprise at his ability to ballroom dance. "When did you learn to do this?" She asked him, looking up at him. Aiden grinned down at her.

"I learned in ninth grade, I had to take dance instead of PE when I got into a fight with the quarterback." He explained. Dani laughed and let him lead her across the dance floor, completely okay with the fact that they were the center of attention.

"Wow, you're so sneaky. I never would have known if you hadn't forced me to come to prom with you." Dani said. Aiden rolled his eyes.

"I did not force you to come to prom. I bought the tickets, and asked you to go with me." He said in amusement. He pulled her closer and she laid her head on his chest as they swayed together. "You know I love you, right?" Aiden's sudden inquisition made Dani look up at him.

"Yes, how could I not know that you love me?" She said. He brushed some hair from her face and caressed her cheek.

"Well, I want to give you something." He stopped dancing and pulled a little velvety box out of his pocket. Dani didn't know what to think. He couldn't be proposing to her, she was sixteen! She shook her head. "Don't freak out, it's not an engagement ring." He rolled his eyes and opened the box, exposing the pendant attached to the silver chain. It was gorgeous, of course, but still simple. It was a little silver knot, and in the center was a crystal. "It's just a little gift. I want you to know that I plan on forever with you. Got that?" He stated. Dani stared at the necklace in shock. Aiden waited patiently for a response from her. A few seconds passed, and she looked up at him.

"Seriously? I don't even know what to do about this. I'm not sure whether I should cry and kiss you, or yell and hit you for getting me a necklace. How much did it cost?" She asked. He rolled his eyes.

"It doesn't matter, because I could afford it right off. It's yours if you'll take it. I want you to take it in fact." He stated. Dani bit her lip, mulling it over, looking from Aiden to the pendant in thought. Finally, after what seemed like forever to Aiden, she nodded.

"Okay." She said, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him. "Thank you. I can't believe you did this for me, but thank you." She kissed his cheek and he grinned at her.

"You're welcome. Need me to help you put it on?" He asked as she studied the necklace again.

"Um, yeah, definitely." She said. Aiden took the necklace from the box, opened the clasp, and put it around her neck. She moved her hair for him, and he clasped it, kissing the back of her neck afterward.

"There we go." He smiled at her and she hugged him again.

"Thank you. Really, I love it." She said.

"You're welcome. I love you. I plan on being with you forever. This was an investment in that future I guess." He laughed a little. Dani smiled up at him.

"That's sweet. I plan to be with you forever too. Till we're old and gray and have to use walkers and wheelchairs to get around." She said.

"Only till then? I was planning longer than that." Aiden laughed.

"Oh, I guess I can plan for longer." Dani conceded.

"Good, I don't know what I'd do without you after being with you for so long." Aiden laughed.

"I know the feeling." Dani said, laying her head on his chest.

"I love you." Aiden said.

"I love you too."

**A.N. This is it. Thank you all again. I hope to hear from all of you. I know I left it kind of open-ended, but that was mostly in case I get inspiration to really finish this thing off. All in all, I think I left it in a good place, and I hope you all agree. – And The Sentence Trails Off…**


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